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kottke.org posts about Reuben Wu

Some Alien Shit Going Down at Stonehenge

a photo of Stonehenge with a blue light shooting out of the middle of it up to the sky

I love this otherworldly shot of Stonehenge from Reuben Wu. It’s a variant of his cover image for the August 2022 issue of National Geographic. The monument is lit from above and behind with drones, which created some logistical issues:

[We] had to call the Royal Air Force each time we launched the drone, and spent months getting permits and approval to do this. Even then we still couldn’t fly it above the stone circle (for fear of damaging the stones).

They had to call the RAF because the monument is in military airspace. This short behind-the-scenes video has more:

While we were making these images, something that was always very present was the sound of the traffic on the nearby A303 highway, and I was certain that passing motorists would have been alarmed to see what looked like an alien spacecraft flitting around above the 5,000 year old megalith.

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The Inner Landscape

a disk of light illuminates a layered desert landscape

a blue shft of light glows in a rocky crack

a glowing disk lights up a rocky landscape

Photographer Reuben Wu was commissioned by Apple to take some of his wonderful light-painted photos with Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max in a project called The Inner Landscape.

So proud to be one of the first photographers to reveal a new series of images captured on the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and celebrate its launch. “The Inner Landscape” is a series of six unearthly places that feel more intimate than epic, more ambiguous than explicit, making up a body of work that feels cohesive through its sense of connection and psychological space.

I love Wu’s work. More information about this project can be found at Colossal, Petapixel, and on Wu’s Instagram.


Otherworldly Landscapes, Light Painted With Drones

a bright cylinder of light over a dark lake surrounded by mountains

a spiral of light around a castle tower

a circle of light over a salt flat

The three images above were created by long-exposure photography of the flight paths of drones with onboard bright lights.

The first image is from Jadikan’s new series, Phénomènes (Instagram), in which he uses fireworks to create brightly-lit cylindrical forms.

The second one is by Will Ferguson of Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds — you can see more of his aerial work here or on Instagram.

The third is from Reuben Wu (Instagram), whose work I’ve featured here for many years. IMO, Wu’s work is slightly more polished than Jadikan’s or Ferguson’s, but I enjoy experiencing all of it. (via petapixel)


Light Painted Landscapes

a bright circle of light over a rocky desert landscape

bright diagonal lines of light over a rocky desert landscape

It’s been a bit since we’ve checked in on artist Reuben Wu, who uses drones to paint (sculpt?) with light in the sky over dark landscapes. Most of his recent stuff seems to be video on his Instagram account but I pulled a couple of photos of his that I haven’t featured before. Always inspiring stuff worth exploring.


Rotating Lights in the Desert

Always a pleasure to see new work from Reuben Wu, whose stuff I’ve featured here before. For this piece, Wu journeys into the audiovisual realm, combining his light-forward photography with his music production work (he’s a member of the band Ladytron). Colossal, as usual, has the skinny:

For EX STASIS, Wu programmed a stick of 200 LED lights to shift in color and shape above the calm landscapes. He captured the mesmerizing movements in-camera, and through a combination of stills, timelapse, and real-time footage, produced four audiovisual works that juxtapose the natural scenery with the artificially produced light and electronic sounds. “As it gets dark, my surroundings cease to be an exterior experience and become a subliminal space, and that’s when I feel most connected and aware of my sense of being,” Wu says. “This dynamic terrestrial chiaroscuro synchronizes with my sound design and music to form singular looping pieces.”

“Dynamic terrestrial chiaroscuro”!!! Also, this photo from Wu’s Insta is just fricking beautiful. (via colossal)


Beautiful Drone-Lit Landscapes by Reuben Wu

Reuben Wu

Reuben Wu

I’ve featured Reuben Wu’s work here before so when I saw via Colossal that he’s got some new stuff going on, I immediately went to check it out. In his Aeroglyphs, Lux Noctis, and Field of Infinity projects, Wu achieves a minimalist sci-fi lighting effect by using drones to light desolately beautiful natural landscapes. Check out his Instagram and Facebook for more images, particularly this video.

Oh, and he also caught the recent total solar eclipse in Chile in this video and this photo. Wow. Kicking myself a little bit that I did not get organized to head to Chile for this.


Holy Mountains Haloed by Drone Light

Reuben Wu Halo

Reuben Wu Halo

Reuben Wu Halo

Oh, I love these photos by Reuben Wu. As part of his project Lux Noctis, Wu flies drones in circles around mountain peaks and takes long-exposure photos, creating these beautiful haloed landscapes. Wu spoke to Colossal about his interest in zero-trace land art:

Recently Wu has evolved his process of working with the drones to form light paths above topographical peaks in the mountainous terrain. “I see it as a kind of ‘zero trace’ version of land art where the environment remains untouched by the artist, and at the same time is presented in a sublime way which speaks to 19th century Romantic painting and science and fictional imagery,” said Wu to Colossal.